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CHAPTER TEN

ELENA

The next day is Carmen’s wedding.

Once again, Jake is gone when I wake up, and once again I stay in bed for nearly an hour, dreading what I have to do.

Carmen has set a tight schedule for the day, starting with a ladies’ brunch, pictures, her “getting ready” champagne toast, more pictures with the wedding party outside the church, the ceremony, pictures, and the reception.

Fortunately, by the time I join the other bridesmaids for brunch, the rehearsal-dinner antics seem to have faded in the group’s memories. The latest scandal is one of the groomsmen groping Carmen’s cousin Kim in the elevator the night before.

I don’t join in the bridesmaids’ shrill laughter, but the distraction puts me at ease. For the rest of the morning, I focus on helping Carmen get ready and making sure none of the other ladies drink too much before the ceremony.

The bridesmaid dresses are tolerable, as bridesmaid dresses go — three sheer layers of lavender fabric that hit just above the knee. I pin my hair up in loose ringlets and pull on my strappy heels.

The wedding party piles into a white stretch limo to ride to the church, and I sit as far away from Derek as I can manage. When we merge onto the highway, I sneak a peek at Derek’s hand and feel a burst of smugness when I see that it’s covered in white gauze.

I might not approve of Jake’s methods, but the results are damn satisfying.

The afternoon is a blur of group photos, “I dos,” and holding up Carmen’s dress while she pees. I don’t see Jake at the wedding ceremony, but I know he’s probably somewhere in the church.

By the time we get back to the hotel for the reception, my feet hurt, my back aches, and I’m exhausted from all the smiling. I run up to the room and splash cold water on my face, staring at my reflection in the mirror.

You can do this.

I’ve been looking forward to Carmen’s wedding for months, but now I’m counting the minutes until it’s over.

Begrudgingly, I fix my hair and cram my swollen feet back into the heels. As I rummage in my makeup bag for a spare bobby pin, my fingers brush the little velvet box fitted into the side pocket.

I haven’t opened it in nearly six years, but I brought it to the wedding on a whim.

Fingers shaking, I slip the box out and open it up. Inside is the delicate gold bracelet with the little sun charm that Jake gave me for my sixteenth birthday.

Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I drape it over my wrist and fiddle with the clasp. It’s simple enough that it complements my lavender dress. I decide to go for it .

Flinging the door open, I nearly smack right into Jake. His eyebrows lift in surprise when he sees me, and I don’t miss the way those blue eyes linger on the line of my collarbones before traveling down to my exposed legs.

His mouth stretches into a wide grin. “You look . . .” He clears his throat and shakes his head, but then his eyes snag on the bracelet.

He reaches for my hand so fast I don’t have time to pull away. His warm fingers encircle my wrist, tugging it toward him for closer inspection.

His thumb brushes the little sun charm, and Jake goes very still. “Is that . . .”

I nod, my throat suddenly very dry.

He shakes his head. “I can’t believe you still have it.”

“Of course I still have it.” Even after what happened between me and Jake, the bracelet is still one of my most treasured possessions.

Jake’s throat bobs as he turns the bracelet around on my wrist, shaking his head in disbelief. “It looks good on you. And you . . .” He clears his throat. “You look amazing.”

I smile, heart thudding. “You clean up pretty nice yourself.”

That’s an understatement. Jake looks as though he just stepped off the cover of GQ . His button-up shirt hugs his muscular frame perfectly, and his slacks could have been made for him. My pulse jumps as I imagine undoing all those buttons, unbuckling his belt, and —

I swallow thickly and tuck that thought into the far back corner of my brain.

Jake’s grin turns wolfish, and my face prickles with heat when I realize he caught me checking him out .

“Shall we?” he asks, offering me his arm.

Relief, gratitude, and nervousness flood my system as I link my arm through his, and the heat seeping through his jacket makes it hard to think about anything except his hand on my arm and the light brush of his hip against mine as we make our way down the hall.

That clean, spicy scent surrounds me, and I feel as though I might burst with pride waltzing into the reception with Jake by my side — Jake, the man who didn’t hesitate to fight for me at the club or at that awful rehearsal dinner.

By the time we reach the grand ballroom, I find myself standing a little taller. Walking into the room with Jake, it feels as though I have some kind of armor against the other shifters’ ridicule and judgement.

Derek’s hateful gaze follows us across the room, but Jake seems totally unaware of the haughty wolf as he orders himself an old-fashioned and a cranberry seltzer for me. It makes it easier for me to ignore Derek, too.

For once, I’m not worrying about how I’ll excuse myself gracefully if I feel a migraine or panic attack coming on. I feel strong — practically invincible. I might even enjoy myself tonight.

We’ve just gotten our drinks when Carmen and Rowan make their entrance, and as soon as other couples start moving toward the center of the ballroom, Jake pulls me onto the dance floor.

He holds me close, but not too close, and I have to resist the urge to run my hand up his warm, solid chest to feel the tiny hint of stubble along his jaw.

Jake moves well for such a large man. I suppose it’s all his fight training. I know he’s only here because Raf asked him to come, but the way he pulls me closer for the slow songs tricks my body into thinking there might be something more.

At one point, Carmen’s cousin pulls me away for yet another group photo before the bride and groom cut the cake. I squeeze Jake’s arm and follow her to the head table, where Carmen is holding court.

A familiar expensive-smelling cologne tickles my nostrils, but that’s the only warning I get before Derek’s hand closes around my arm.

I jerk my head up to look at him. His gray eyes are bloodshot, and I can smell the whiskey on his breath. “Can we talk?” he asks.

“Now’s not a good time,” I say, tugging my arm out of his grip. “They’re about to cut the cake.”

“It’ll just take a second.”

I let out a huff of air. The last thing I want to do is listen to Derek’s pitiful drunken rant, but judging by the look on his face, he’s not going to let this go.

I don’t want to make a scene at Carmen’s reception, so I give Derek a stiff nod and follow him out of the ballroom and onto the hotel terrace.

The cool night air is actually a relief after the hot and crowded ballroom. I rub the back of my neck as I wait for Derek to spit it out, trying to release the tension from the day.

“I wanted to apologize for my . . . behavior,” he says. “The other night . . . I was out of line.”

“Which night?” I ask before I can stop myself. “The night you called me a slut, or the night you announced that I was a cold fish in front of the entire wedding party?”

I can’t see Derek’s expression in the dark, but I sense his swell of rage right before he tamps it down. “Both, I guess.”

I gnaw on my bottom lip, waiting for this to be over. Does he expect me to say I forgive him or something?

“I came here this weekend thinking you and I might . . .” Derek trails off and makes a gesture with his hand. “Instead, you show up with him , and I just . . . lost it.”

“Fair enough,” I say, propping my hands on my hips. “Are we done?”

Derek scoffs. “That’s all you have to say to me?”

“What do you want me to say?” I ask, feeling suddenly very tired. “That I forgive you? That it’s all water under the bridge?”

“Yes, for a start. Then maybe you could apologize to me for bringing that piece of shit with you just to make me jealous.”

I choke out a laugh. White-hot anger sears my insides, but I’m so stunned by Derek’s ego that it actually tempers my rage.

“Apologize to you ?” I blurt, the words turning to ash in my mouth. I shake my head. “Jake is not the piece of shit here. I’m sorry that you’re so self-centered that you think I would actually bring him with me just to make you jealous.”

Derek reels back as though I slapped him.

“I hate to break it to you, but nothing I do has anything to do with you anymore.”

“Oh, that’s rich,” Derek bites back. “All the nights I spent worrying about you after the accident, and you couldn’t give a shit about me.”

“You were worried for me?” I choke out incredulously. “You weren’t even there! ”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I was too busy with work to sit vigil at your bedside like your precious Jake. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t with you.”

I jerk my head back. Now he’s not even making sense. Jake wasn’t at the rehab center in Chicago. He couldn’t have been.

But suddenly, all my resentment toward Derek bubbles to the surface.

It happens so fast it gives me a head rush, and I feel the familiar stab of a migraine coming on.

“Do you know why I was out with Carmen that night?” I demand, my voice shaking with the force of my anger. “Or have you forgotten that part?”

Derek blinks. He doesn’t remember what happened the night of the accident, which makes it sting even more.

“You and I had a date, remember?” My voice shakes on the last word, and it’s only then that I realize how much anger I’ve been holding on to these past two years. “You and I were supposed to meet at Luigi’s, but you stood me up.”

“I had an important call,” he grumbles. “This huge account down in Dallas that we’d been trying to close for months.”

“And you couldn’t have texted ?” My eyes fill with tears, but I blink them back.

I take a deep breath and exhale slowly to keep the sobs at bay.

I need to get this out. “I’m not saying it’s your fault that I was in that car wreck.

But that night you showed me who you really are. It just took me a while to see it.”

“And who is that?”

“A selfish, entitled ass.”

Derek lets out a slow breath through his nose, and his golden-amber eyes gleam in the dark. They’re that color because they’re his wolf’s eyes, and I’m suddenly very aware that it’s just the two of us out here.

“So that’s it, then,” he murmurs. “That’s what you really think of me?”

I swallow. I’ve never been more aware of my human status than I am at this very moment. Here I am, alone with a wolf who could quite literally tear me to pieces.

“I guess that’s what happens when your brother becomes alpha and you run off to some fancy arts college. You forget that you’re just the weak human runt that your father’s human slut of a wife shat out.”

My hand flies out so fast I don’t have time to consider what I’m doing until I feel the sting of flesh on flesh. I hit Derek so hard that his face jerks to the side, and in the soft glow of the moonlight, I can see the angry red handprint on his cheek.

As the adrenaline surges through my veins, the full magnitude of my mistake hits me. I just slapped a shifter!

“You shouldn’t have done that, Elena,” Derek growls, his voice low and deadly calm.

“Oh, I think she should have.”

The sound of Jake’s voice makes me whip my head around, and it feels as though my heart might burst out of my chest.

The lights from the hotel gleam behind him, giving him an otherworldly glow. He’s loosened his tie and undone a few buttons of his shirt, revealing several inches of his perfectly toned chest.

“Because if Elena didn’t hit you, I was going to do much worse.” Jake cracks a menacing grin. “Still might.”

“Walk away, little wolf,” Derek growls. “Elena and I are in the middle of something. ”

“Careful. Your wolf is showing,” says Jake softly. “And I think you’re done.”

Jake is right. Derek’s starting to shift. Dark hair is sprouting all over his body, and his face is beginning to change shape.

“Jake —” I want to tell him to get the hell out of here, but I know he won’t listen.

To my appreciation and annoyance, he doesn’t rush to shift.

Jake undresses as though he has all the time in the world, hooking a finger through the knot in his tie and sliding it out from under his collar.

His fingers work the buttons of his shirt one at a time, and when he reaches down to undo his belt, Derek is already sprawled on all fours.

My heart flies into overdrive, but I needn’t have worried. By the time I look back at Jake, the rest of his clothes are on the ground.

I hardly have time to wonder what happened to the fully naked Jake when a mass of tawny fur leaps from behind the low stone wall.

Jake tackles Derek in a swirl of fur and claws, and the two of them roll. I shuffle back to get out of the way as Jake lands on top.

Growing up with Raf means I’ve seen my share of wolves. And Jake’s animal is magnificent. For a start, he’s huge. Long silky rust-colored fur mixes with shades of cream and gray. His eyes flash a dangerous arctic blue as Derek nips him under his foreleg.

In a flash of fur, their roles are reversed, and the wolves tussle for position. A pained yelp rends the air, but they’re moving too fast for me to tell who was hurt.

Claws scrape the terrace as they fight, and I shrink back in horror when I catch a flash of long white teeth. One of them must be wounded already, because bloody claw marks mar the stone.

Then the black wolf digs into Jake’s back, and my heart leaps to my throat. Jake’s yip of pain slices through me like a knife, but Jake is a fighter — born and trained.

He whips around in a flash of teeth, his growl ripping through the darkness. Soon he has Derek by the neck, and he shakes him like a rag doll.

For one horrible moment, I think Jake might snap his neck. But then he releases the black wolf with a growl, and Derek tears off into the night.